


The Other World

by Yogurtwood



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Based on Coraline
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:08:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26120104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yogurtwood/pseuds/Yogurtwood
Summary: Based on the film Coraline. Callum moves into a new town with his mother after she decides to start her life anew following the divorce of her husband. They settle into a rambling old house within the Katolis Apartments where Callum discovers a fantastical mirror, as he wanders the house, that leads to an alluring fantasy. However, he soon realizes that in order to stay within that fantasy he must make a frighteningly real sacrifice.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 11





	1. Rag Doll

A rag doll drifts through an open window into a room filled with crafting and sewing supplies. As it enters, two blue star speckled hands pluck it from the air, taking it gently into their four fingered care. The doll is gently laid onto its back on a table, its figure made of brown rag materials, buttons, thread and fabric for its clothes. The doll is left alone on the table for the scarcest of moments, before the hands return and the figure begins the process of dismantling the doll. First to go is the dolls long white hair threaded into its rag scalp. Two fingers, an index and thumb, pinch and gather the tail of the hair which ends somewhere just below its lower back and tugs until the threading comes loose. Its hair unravels slowly and evenly from its scalp as the fingers pull and pull until only small loose threads poke up from the now bare scalp and the discarded hair is brushed carelessly from the table onto the floor. 

Next, a large scissors is taken to the rag dolls clothing, carefully snipping away the green and black fabric with care, making sure to cut only the fabric and not the body of the doll itself. Like the hair, the clothing is swept onto the floor. With the doll now naked and hairless, the hands make short work of its eyes, round bright turquoise buttons with four holes where thread held them in their place. These too are unthreaded and removed from the doll, leaving its face eyeless and blank with black threads poking up and bending in the space where they had previously held the buttons. Naked and featureless, the stitching that holds the dolls lips together is ripped out and as the two halves of the face spread and fall open, the white stuffing that filled the doll is exposed. Lifted from the table and into the air, the doll is hung upside down from one blue hand while the other tugs the stuffing out the body through the mouth, leaving the doll empty and deflated with its face carved open, as its white insides spill and float slowly to the floor. Now merely an empty unremarkable person shaped sack, the doll is turned inside out to expose the unused clean inner side. 

Soft humming fills the air. 

Just as slowly as the doll was taken apart is it built anew, filled with fresh soft clean stuffing. Brown hair is slowly pressed and stitched against the scalp before a drawer is opened. The drawer is large and wide and filled with buttons, organized and paired by their color and size. Two of these buttons are taken from the drawer, black and shiny, clean and new, before being threaded onto the face where eyes are expected. The hole that gaped from its face is stitched together to make a new mouth, forming a wide broad smile that is friendly and inviting. Done for the moment, the doll is laid again to rest on the table as the figure draws and cuts shapes into fabric at a station across the room; a red shirt along with black pants and boots. The fabric clothing is brought over to the doll and pulled over it. A dark blue jacket is added over the shirt and a red scarf wrapped tenderly against its neck and black fabric boots are stitched directly against the feet. Blue hands gently dust off the doll ensuring its cleanliness and fingers touch the buttons tenderly before the doll is taken into their grasp and walked to the window it had originally drifted in through. The panes open smoothly without so much as being touched and the doll is lifted into the air and released to then float out the windows where it disappears into the black starry sky that lies outside.


	2. New House

The rumble of the engine was a constant as they drove through towns, city to city. Callum could feel the bumps and curves of the road from where he leaned against the window in the backseat of the car, squished by the paper bags and luggage on the other side of him. The seat belt bit into his side, pulled tight after he had stretched too far forward when trying to reach the bouquet of flowers that had fallen to the car floor after a particularly hard stop. His mom hadn’t let him take off his seat belt to loosen it, claiming that “you always do this! You know what happens if you stretch it too far, Callum. This is the third time! You know what? Just leave it. Stop messing with the seat belt. I mean it. I need to focus on driving, Callum. And you need to wear the seat belt. I'm not getting pulled over for this!” 

A whole lecture in the span of less than a minute. 

Callum sighed as he watched another petal fall from the flowers and sway gently to the floor where it landed alongside the countless others that hadn’t been strong enough to withstand being squashed and laid on by a twelve-year-old boy. The thin clear wrap holding the bouquet together crinkled loudly as he reached in to look again at the card his friends had stuck to the inside. 'Good luck, Callum! Can’t wait to see you over vacation break!' Little drawn faces decorated the card. Some had their tongues sticking out. 

Yeah right. Like his mom as ever going to actually let him go back. They’d probably have to visit. 

Fingers tightened on the bouquet as they drove and drove, away from their home, away from everything he had ever known. Away from everyone he actually wanted to be with. He closed his eyes and heard a voice from the driver's seat-- “We’re almost there Callum. Don’t fall asleep, okay?” He mumbled a 'yes' and went to sleep anyway. 

In what felt like a few minutes, he was startled awake by the sound of a trunk slamming shut and then the door to his side of the car being opened from the outside. He unbuckled his seat belt and stepped out, one hand on the bouquet and the other already grabbing some bags before he could be lectured about not helping out. So much fun already. 

“Come on, Callum,” his mom called as she walked from the car and up the walkway to a sprawling blue house, a stack of bags in one arm and the other tugging a heavy rolling suitcase. She tugged the suitcase up the four steps and Callum hurried to the door so that he could open it for her once she pulled out the keys. 

“Thanks, sweets.” 

“No problem, Mom.” 

They made short work of the bags and suitcases as they brought them from the car into the house, leaving them by the door. His mom breathed a sigh of relief when they were finished and Callum mimicked her as she turned to him with a smile. “We did it, Cal! Go wash your hands and, uh, explore in the meantime, I guess. I’ll start putting the stuff away.” 

He only waited a moment to watch her begin to pull a suitcase away before promptly ejecting his boots off his feet and going to look around. The furniture in the house was boring, everything brown and old looking, with a thin sheet of dust coating everything that wasn’t covered. It was nothing like their furniture at their ho- old home. There turned out to be a kitchen, a not-so-bad living room that was actually bigger than their old living room, a dining room, a small bathroom and two rooms of which only one opened no matter how hard he tugged at the doorknob. Probably just another bedroom. It hadn’t taken long to explore the first floor and his mom was still somewhere upstairs based on the sounds and to be honest- he didn’t want to be wrangled into actually helping out yet after she’d told him to explore. Callum glanced at the window outside, confirming that there was still enough light outside for him to be allowed to go outside without getting in trouble. He gave a shout that he was going outside before putting on his boots and leaving. 

He was halfway surprised when he walked around the back of the house and saw that everything was so...dry. Brown grass stretched up and crunched beneath his shoes as he walked around the yard. Besides the one he and his mom had just moved into; he couldn’t see any other homes. Well, there was the fourth floor of their house where the other neighbor lived and the basement where the other other neighbor lived too (his mom had lectured him about keeping his noise level down since they would be having neighbors), but he didn't think they counted as 'homes'. Besides that, there were only the woods that laid waiting just around the property. Weren’t houses supposed to have cool backyards with bright green grass? And yeah there was a lot of space but... it still wasn’t what he had been expecting. His shoulders sank. Not that he had been expecting much in the first place. 

“Whatever,” he grumbled, marching over to the beginning of a tree line which was actually just a little spooky since it was darker inside due to the trees blocking the sunlight that was left. He hesitated, peering into it before steeling his shoulders and deciding that he would go in because he wasn’t afraid. He was twelve, not a little kid! And definitely not scared of some shadows. He wasn’t the bravest of his friends but he’d be damned if he ever had to tell them, 'no I haven’t gone into the woods behind my house because it was spooky'. They would laugh him to pieces. 

Yeah, he was going. He took a deep breath and glanced behind himself towards the house before walking into it. After walking around for a while, he ended up with a giant stick that he let trail on the ground behind him, leaving a thick trail in the dirt. Then he attempted to climb some trees. He didn’t get very far except for a few branches and by the end of it, he was sorer than when he’d started in the beginning. Carefully, he stood up on one of the branches and screamed out at the top of his lungs, “I’m king of the trees! Muahaha! And no one can stop me from world domination!” 

Sudden laughter startled him from his impromptu speech about taking over the world and before he knew it, he’d hit the ground. Hard. “Ow!” Callum looked up, annoyed, to see a girl with short straight blonde hair still laughing at him. “World domination!” the girl chortled, wiping tears from her eyes, “that’s funny!” She pointed at the stick beside him on the ground. “Is that your Gandalf stick too?” 

Callum pushed himself up, cheeks red and ready to defend himself. “It wasn’t that funny. And besides what if I broke something when I fell?” And Gandalf was cool! 

“Well then you’d just learn to fall better. That’s how my Uncle Tink helped me learn to climb.” 

Callum crossed his arms. “Well, I don’t care how your Uncle helped you learn. You can go now.” 

The girl crossed her arms as well. “Make me.” 

“I will!” 

They both waited. Nothing happened. 

“See, I knew you weren’t going to do anything!” 

He stuck his tongue out and she responded with the same until it was just the two of them standing in the slowly darkening woods with their tongues sticking out at one another. 

A sudden shout cutting into the air caused the two youths to jump. “RAYLA!” 

“Ah,” she said, suddenly looking sheepish. “I have to go.” There was another shout and she took a step back. 

“Go on, run home,” was Callum’s smart retort. 

The girl, Rayla, made a face before turning and dutifully running in the direction of the voice. She didn’t pause as she shouted something to him so Callum didn’t fully hear what she said besides something about a poisoned stick. 

He huffed and turned to go back home himself. 

Later, Callum recounted his adventures to his mother as they ate dinner together. Or rather Callum pushed the food around on this plate and his mother ate tiny bites while alternating staring at her laptop and phone screen. 

“I went into the woods behind the house.” 

“That’s cool, what did you find?” 

“I found a stick and I climbed a tree.” 

She nodded even as her face scrunched at her laptop screen. Her hand moved fast against the keyboard. 

Callum pushed the food on his plate around some more. 

“I fell out of a tree.” 

“Hmm.” 

“I could have died.” 

“That’s nice, dear.” 

Callum sighed and pushed his plate away. “Can I have a phone too, mom?” 

“No.” 

Another sigh, deeper this time. “I’m going to bed.” 

“Sounds exciting—I mean, have a good night Callum.” 

He stacked his dishes in the sink then walked back through the dining room past his mother who wasn’t paying him the slightest bit of attention, through the living room and paused at the stairs that was beside the bathroom and the two rooms where only one door opened. “Mom?” he called. 

His mother shouted a yes? From the kitchen. 

“Did you know that one of the bedroom doors doesn’t open?” 

“That room needs a key. Goodnight!” 

Oh. Callum turned and went up the stairs where he readied himself for bed before falling into a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, the second chapter is up! We've met Rayla in this chapter as well as Uncle 'Tink' (somewhat). I wonder who the neighbors are? We may or may not be meeting them in the next chapter.
> 
> As always feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts!


	3. Little Callum

Chapter 3 

Callum awoke the next day to gray skies filled with rain and hands that were red and itchy. He didn’t bother mentioning it to his mother when he’d noticed her working on her laptop. He bet that if he told her, she would force him to go to the doctor. Going to the doctor meant time that she should be spending working was being spent not working and he’d already been told about interrupting when she needed to work. She was the only one with a job around here, she would lecture him. There was no one else in the house that worked, his mom had yelled that one time. Not like they could depend on his dad for anything, she’d reminded him. Or more like, it wasn’t like Callum could depend on his dad for anything. 

In a rising wave of what felt like spite, Callum had wanted to ask her exactly whose fault that was. In the end, he didn’t. 

\------- 

Callum was in the kitchen running water over his hands in an attempt to soothe them when the doorbell rang. He shook the water wildly from his hands as he walked over to answer. Opening the door, he was greeted by sight of the blonde girl from the day before. 

“Hey,” she said. 

“Hi. Rayla?” he greeted with the straightest, most dead looking expression he could muster. He remembered hearing it when her Uncle had shouted for her. 

She nodded and took a step in as he took a step back to let her in. “You’re here because?” he asked, a frown on his face. 

Rayla shuffled her shoes. “I came by to see how you were today. I kind of made you fall pretty hard yesterday. Sorry about that.” 

A brief wave of surprise crossed his face and a small smile quirked his lips. “It’s alright. It wasn’t that far down.” He raised his hands to show her. “I got this weird stuff on my hands though.” 

Rayla didn’t need words to express her thoughts, he decided. The look she gave him said ‘Duh’ loud enough. “That’s what happens when you go grabbing poison oak sticks.” 

“Well, how was I supposed to know that?” Callum asked, annoyed. Rayla only rolled her eyes and held a package wrapped in what looked like tissue paper out to him. “This is for you.” 

He took it and noticed that there was a note attached to the package (“In case you didn’t answer the door,” Rayla explained) wrapped in thin tissue paper that read, ‘Hey Tree Lord, look what I found in my Uncle’s trunk. Look familiar?’ Callum looked up at her unimpressed. “Tree Lord? Really?” 

“Welll, you were holding a giant stick. While standing and screaming in a tree. Something about taking over the world remember?” The wrapping crinkled as he unwrapped it and Callum found himself looking at a miniature version of himself. “Cool, huh?” Rayla said, voice almost a whisper. “I found it in one of my uncle’s trunks when we were cleaning! Looks just like you, don’t ya think?” 

She was right, it really was a smaller version of himself; right down to his favorite scarf and boots. The only difference were the eyes made from two black buttons. Weird. He shook the doll in her face. “Why’d your Uncle have a doll that looks just like me anyway?” he asked, curious. Rayla shrugged. “I don’t know. But isn’t it cool? It’s like a little you!” 

He gave her a look that he was sure was both unimpressed and skeptical. “Actually, it’s a little weird. But, uh, thanks for the gift.” They stood silent for a moment before he closed the open door behind her and the two walked into the living room. 

“I’m a little too old for dolls.” 

“Aren’t you like ten though?” She turned to him with a quizzical look in her eyes. 

“Excuse you, I’m twelve!” he corrected, with an emphasis on his actual age. He set the doll down on the arm of the couch. “Thanks though,” was the polite reply. 

Rayla shrugged again before looking around the living room, face expressing for all the world to see that she wanted to look around. “Do you like it here?” she asked. 

Callum made a so-so motion with his hand. “The bathroom has a lot of bugs in it and there’s leaks everywhere. And the furniture is all dusty.” 

“Yikes,” she said with a small cringe. “Maybe that’s why Uncle never let me come in here before.” Callum tilted his head to the side slightly with a questioning squint of his eyes. Rayla explained, “He told me that he doesn’t rent any of the apartments in Katolis Apartments out to people who have kids.” She leaned in conspiratorially and lowered her voice. “He says he knew another kid who went missing in here when they were both kids. I think it really gave him the spooks.” 

Callum felt himself gulp even as she wiggled her fingers and let out a ghostly, ‘ouuu’. “Did they find the kid?” he asked, even as he wished desperately that she would just say ‘yes’. 

“Nope,” she answered, cheerily. Her face fell then and she looked remorseful. “I shouldn’t joke about it. Uncle Ethari and the kid were pretty close. Don’t tell anyone I told you, okay? He hardly ever talks about it.” Callum nodded. He was good at keeping secrets. She still looked a little crestfallen so he changed the subject. “Want me show you around? We have to be quiet though. My mom is working.” 

Rayla didn’t answer right away, seeming to consider whether she should or not before nodding. They spent the next twenty minutes roaming through the house as Callum showed her the different rooms, taking some time to squash bugs they found in the upstairs bathroom with their thumbs, looking out the window where Rayla pointed out that she could see the tip of the top of her house in the far distance, and making sure to step on every creaking board that they could find. On their way down the stairs, Callum noticed the doll laying in middle of the floor near the steps. He picked it up. 

“Geez, did I really leave this here? Glad my mom didn’t see it.” Rayla’s eyes slid to the closed door in the corner. “What’s that room?” 

“I think it’s a bedroom. My mom says it needs a key.” Rayla met his eyes and Callum got the hint. 

“I know where the keys are. We can try them out.” She grinned and followed him into the kitchen. 

A little digging and they managed to find the right key, an old long dark blue thing that had bits of rust on it. The two of them together had to push the door with their shoulders before it opened, earning them a warning shout from Callum’s mom and then they were in. The room wasn’t large at all but it had a closet in it, a bed and an oversized piece of furniture covered up by a sheet in the corner. Callum pulled the sheet down which aired dust into their eyes and made Rayla sneeze. Absently he threw the doll onto the bed. 

“That’s a reallllyy big mirror,” she said with large eyes. “It’s, like, really big.” 

She was right, Callum decided, as he took a step back and let the sheet fall from his hand to the floor. The mirror was probably twelve feet tall and brown with decorative symbols carved into the piece that held the glass. 

“If you break that, I bet you end up with three hundred years of bad luck,” she joked. Callum cracked a smile and opened his mouth to say something funny when he stopped. He stopped because when he looked into the mirror, he could see their reflections—and the reflection of the Little Callum with its button eyes where it lay on the bed. It almost seemed as though it was looking into the mirror too. 

“Yeah, three hundred years,” he muttered in agreement, eyes still on the doll. 

Rayla patted her hair down to fix it and then turned to leave the room. “Come on, Tree Lord.” 

Callum pulled in the door slightly but didn’t close it in case it locked. 

\------- 

After Rayla left Callum unpacked more of his things, taking care to put his board games and books away neatly. His hand paused on the D&D papers that he had made for his character. He missed his friends. He missed his home. He missed his dad. 

Time seemed to speed up as he unpacked more of his things and before he knew it, he had dropped into his bed. Little Callum sat on the random chair beside his nightstand—his mother had told him not to leave it laying around. It was a gift after all. Callum closed his eyes and dreamt that night of glowing blue butterflies leading him to the mirror in the room downstairs.


End file.
